Reborn For Vengeance

It was an uncomfortable sight for some but just a normal day for the occupant of the room.

Coughing sounds filled the hospital room.

It may have been a VIP room but the person there did not feel like one at all.

The room was large and the cream colored comfy sofa by the side of the room had no occupants on it and neither did either of the remaining furniture in the room.

My life was just as it seemed; bleak and boring.

The door opened and someone walked in. Her high heels clicking on the floor, freshly manicured hands wrapped around the man beside her and she scrunched up her nose at the smell of the antiseptic.

I forced my frail figure that occupied the room struggled to sit up in bed on noticing their arrival.

"Steph, you are here with Frank." I say, my voice weak with eyes looking towards their enjoined hands.

"Frank. Thank you for coming with Steph. She doesn't like hospitals." My voice shakes as I struggle to keep my composure.

Steph spoke her eyes bright with life, "Sister, I'm sure Dad wanted to come himself. It's just that you remind him of so much. He can't bear to lose you as well."

"Steph, don't drag it further. I know my weight in Dad's heart." I cough and watch as Steph runs to assist me to sit up.

"Frank, would you help my sister process her discharge papers please?" Steph spoke, her brown eyes turning soft at him.

I looked up at the man who stood tall at six feet with his unsmiling face as he nodded at Steph and walked out.

"You shouldn't command Frank like that. He wouldn't like it." I chided her.

"Sister, Frank is your husband. Everything he does now, he does for you." Steph batted her eyelashes coquettishly causing me to smile helplessly.

"Regardless Steph. Look at how his face was cold and his expression uninviting."

"Only the best for my sister." She argued, shaking her layered brown tresses as they sat to frame her face.

I look at Steph immaculately dressed pristine sister and forced the jealousy down her throat. I used to be like this, even better for I was the one who had taught Steph how to be excellently dressed. The heavens had a different thought for me though as I saw myself going in and out of the hospital so frequently.

Steph was staring at her phone with a smile.

"A boy?" I nudge her smiling.

"What? No." she laughed.

"Frank says that he has processed your discharge. Just so you know I am not in support of you leaving the hospital. You are not better yet!". Her shrill voice was loud causing me to shrink unconsciously.

"I know my body Steph, also the Doctors have said that they can do nothing again. I would rather rest at home."

"Did you bring the documents I asked you to?" My voice shook again as I struggled to sit on the wheelchair.

"Gra-ace"

"Do not look so bothered. All I'm giving you is 45% of the XS shares, my 15% shares of Raven goes to Charity."

"Not that. You speak as though you're dying sister. I hate to hear that." Steph's face contorted.

How can a face contorted be still beautiful?

I pause.

Steph is my sister and I never had wrong thoughts towards her. Ever. So what was this?

I miss the gleaming look in Steph's eyes as she opened her bag to present the documents.

Holding the pen steady, I sign the ownership shares away to Steph.

"I know my body, Steph." I repeat.

"Take good care of XS."

"Oh, I will." A smirk came to rest on Steph's face as she held the documents high in the air.

"Steph? I'd like to go now please"

An annoyed look crossed her face, bothering me. " Fine. Let's leave."

I cough trying to alleviate the never-ending parchedness of my throat. "You can't be annoyed that I've accepted my fate."

Steph sneered. "Accept your fate alright!".

...

I jolted awake as the vehicle hit rough ground, rubbing my hand on my forehead.

" Where are we headed? This is not the way home. Oh, the sun is setting. Isn't it beautiful Frank?"

No reply.

"Frank?"

"Don't be angry. I'm not giving up fighting. I'm just accepting...." I pause looking at the road in front of me change into a deserted dirt road.

"Frank. There are better ways to discuss this. Don't give me the silent treatment." I looked sternly.

"Shut up!."

"What?"

The vehicle was parked under the covering of several trees.

Waiting for Steph to help me out after she got out herself proved futile as nothing happened.

I took a careful look at Frank who had opened the bonnet and was working on the car.

"Did something happen to the car?" I ask Steph struggling alight from the vehicle.

A mocking laughter was her reply.

"Oh, something happened or perhaps, something will very soon."

I squeezed my face feeling a headache coming on. Steph was naturally a spoilt person and even more difficult to deal with than me.

And that is saying something, because I can be a very difficult person myself !

Though Steph was not related to me in any form, I had accepted her when my Dad remarried after my mother's passing and brought her in together with his new wife as her daughter.

Over time, Steph's spoiled and selfish personality had spread and increased, however I continually took her side believing she needed a foothold in their social class, despite annoying and stepping on so many toes for her.

So maybe she was angry I left the hospital? She wanted to protect me the way she could? A place where Medical professionals continually are?

"Look.." I move forward but then trip over a tree branch.

"Ouch" I cried, looking at my scraped leg.

From the peripheral of her vision, I could see Frank close the car bonnet and move towards me.... past me to stand by Steph.

I bowed my head feeling self-conscious. I felt pathetic being on the floor, however I had no strength left to stand.

Frank had always been cold throughout our being together, from our engagement and through the years of our marriage.

"Steph, can I have my drugs?"

"You mean this?" A cackle rang out loud in the deserted area.

She opened it and poured the pills on the ground.

"What are you doing?!" I yell frantically.

"Watch it." Frank yells at me, making me widen my eyes in surprise.

"Excuse you?" I ask annoyed.

"What do you think of this story, sister?" Steph grinned.

"You just poured my drugs away. I do not think of any story." I replied to her coldly.

"Oh, but it is your story." She mocked her brown tresses blowing across her face by the soft wind.

"What?"

"Grace Eleanor Koore, felt distraught about the news the doctors had just given her. She demanded to be discharged and left alone. Driving herself to this secluded place to think. She took the drugs and drove herself off the cliff." She pointed at the cliff in the distance with one hand.

"What did you say?" Blood was roaring in my ears. I refuse to believe such gibberish.

"Ow. You were indeed easy to trick. Such a gullible child. She had a stepmother who loved her despite her Father's obvious apathy towards her." She tsked and used the tip of her shoe to press my head into the ground.

"Oh, how I wanted to do that since Frank. To press her head into the ground where it belonged."

"Now you can do it, no-one will stop you." He looked at her adoringly.

I look from Steph to Frank. He was in it?

The man who had shown no care to me, even when I almost bled out with our baby, looked at my sister this way? Adoringly?

"I treated you as my sister." I grit my teeth and shove Steph's heels off the side of my head with my last bout of strength.

"That's the point! I'm not your sister! Everyone pointing fingers and comparing me to you! Oh, how I wanted to rip them out and shove it down your throat.

And you had the guts to tell me you didn't love Frank! Only getting married to him because Dad chose him!

He loved me even before you got engaged, sister." she mocked.

I swallow hard. I will not die by this conniving bitch hand.

"It wasn't even hard to get those drugs." She burst into laughter.

"You poisoned me?!!"

"Eh. Don't look so surprised. She really did not know any of our plans." She smiled at Frank who flicked her forehead gently and gave her a peck.

"It wasn't really our plan. Lailah got the drugs, she poisoned her and even caused the miscarriage." He patted Steph's hair.

Lailah? My best friend that I trusted above everything?!

If Stephanie was my sister, Lailah was my soulmate. Why am I surrounded by blood-thirsty vipers?

"I will curse you all with my blood." I grit my teeth struggling inwardly to keep my tears at bay.

"It does not matter you see, after all, I have what I need, and so does Lailah. She was an important piece at play. Lailah got everything prepared. Your unborn child even threatened the status of her own child."

"Oh, you didn't know. You couldn't have, after all, you were so gullible. Lailah has a son by Frank here but he's illegitimate which makes him unable to contest for inheritance."

"Too bad, you just had to go and marry the wrong person."

"And you, you are not planning on doing that?" I eye the short distance between Steph and Frank followed by a scoff.

Steph giggled and moved towards me, her mouth at my ear level.

"I told you that I have what I need. I did not mention Frank."

"XS?"

"XS is a good thing, but your mother left even more for you. Signing that, you signed everything your mother might have ever given you to me. Better things."

Fire crackled in my eyes as my mind clouded.

"I told you she would cave today." Frank said holding Steph tenderly.

"I know. I should've believed you."

In a couple of seconds, I can feel myself being strapped to the driver seat.

Fighting with all my might proved to be of no avail for I lacked strength.

"Stephanie Myers and Frank Mylelore, I curse you."

Tears running down my face, I watched helplessly as the car ran down the cliff, the brake obviously tampered with.

'Mother, I have disappointed you.'

That was my last thought as the car plummeted into the cold water.

Water rushed into my mouth filling my lungs, my legs kicking against the raging currents.

I'm alive?

In that case, I must live.

I continue kicking my legs with newfound strength I didn't know I had but my gown decided not to help me as it connived with the water to drag her below the surface due to its heaven material.

My throat clogged once more and I felt my arms weaken. Was this how I was going to go out?

If I was able to escape the vehicle, then it was hope telling me to live right?

Exactly what is this heavy material pulling me?

Lifting my eyes, I see through blurry vision a figure on top of the cliff, watching me with a sly smirk on her face.

Stephanie.

Mum, I'm coming.

A splash into the water drags me underneath and I unintentionally swallow a large gulp of water.

I stiffed as I felt a hand bunch my clothes upwards.

The hand was tearing it. The dress was worth millions of dollars, but that was the least of my concerns now.

I agreed to death, not molestation!

What?

Another arm wrapped around my waist pulling me forward.

Oh. Must be on my way to Heaven. I muse.

....

My eyes open with a start, my stomach gurgling causing me to turn to my side to cough out the water.

The road I took to heaven must have been the salty part.

I groan, pushing the voice in the background to the back of my mind. Surely, they'd allow people in heaven to rest, wouldn't they?

But Heaven should not feel like hard rocks or the terrible cold air that is assaulting my arms coming from.....

Wait!

I turn my eyes to my right, then left, then the back to ascertain my current accommodation .

I was in a cave.

What cave?

Cave?

Where wild animals stay? A voice in my head asked sacredly.

A strong arm grabbed me suddenly causing me to shriek.

"Are you feeling better?" The voice asked.

I turn my face in the direction of the voice. His face was blurry and his voice unfamiliar. Quickly, I punched my legs together, shaking lightly because of the reaction between the cold air and my wet clothes.

With no strength to reply, I nod meekly.

"Did you save me from the water?"

"Wait, where are you going?" My voice increased in loudness, noticing the stranger separating himself from the wall.

"There is a change of dry clothes by your side. You should not commit suicide." The voice spoke again, sounding cold from the even colder figure which had made his way to the opening of the cave.

I look at the figure, my mind clearer at the moment than earlier noticing his long legs which were dripping wet, the shirt that clung to his back like a second skin showing the contours of his well-muscled back. His shoulders spanned out telling the possibility of a broad chest and the well defined muscles that would have probably had my previous self drooling.

However, this was not my past life and men have caused me enough pain already.

"What is today's date?"

He regards me with curious eyes, " Fifth of April, 2020."

"Don't stay too long there either. Wild animals make caves their homes." He added and stepped out, walking away.

In a heartbeat, my eyes turned cold. Fifth of April? 2020?

Fifth of April?

2020?

Wasn't I in the vehicle just now?

But the scene that just took place, I vividly remember it, so what's going on?

Did I come back?

Mum, are you saying something?

This scene had occurred five years prior to when I died and it only fueled the skepticism of people in their society, even those beneath their social class against me.

A couple of hours ago, I was the envy of several eyes due to this gown, however in the water, the same gown threatened to lend its hand to my death.

In my previous life , when this had occurred, I had been too enraged to wear the clothes and had run back to the banquet looking disheveled and terrible.

I ran to my father to tell him of what had occurred and to seek comfort, however the man had been so embarrassed of me that he sent me into the house and paraded his younger child around instead.

Stephanie.

Oh, Stephanie, had played the role of a caring sister turning people's minds against me making me seem like a spoiled, ill-intentioned brat who threw tantrums by threatening my life.

The Directors of XS who had been at the party had nothing great to say about me, and causing such a scene when I rarely saw them decreased my chances of ever inheriting my mother's company.

I scoff. I had fooled myself into thinking that Stephanie had gone to get help while I drowned in the water, though now, I was more than aware of Stephanie's plot and now that the Heavens had granted me one more chance, I would ensure to cause them double the pain they all caused me!.

Struggling to stand to my feet, I change into the clothes placed for me by the side.

It was obviously a male's clothing. "Most likely that guy." I whisper unintentionally, taking in a large whiff of the perfume on the clothes.

The shirt hung close to my knees and the trousers were more funny to look at despite me rolling it three times.

I chuckled at my silly sight.

Were this attire trying to compete with my dress from earlier on which could drown me faster, I am willing to bet my two pence on this one.

I place my hand on my discarded dress and pull it apart, tearing a long strap. I improvise it as a belt and use it to hold the trousers on my waist.

I smirked coldly as my body exhibited a chilling atmosphere.

Now, where was that Bitch?

My darling, sweet stepsister, Stephanie?.

I dragged myself, my wet hair all but clinging to the middle of my back looking even more petite in the clothes that were threatening to drown me. My fierce blue eyes contrast my drenched and weak look.

I took in a deep breath as I saw my father's mansion where the party is ongoing in the family's garden, tuned to accommodate the guests.

It was the same. On the side of a hill completely separate from their next neighbor for about thirty minutes. The peace and quiet was heavenly, but it was also easier to enter heaven here.

The same before it got renovated with my mother's money two years from now.

My eyes flashed with a cold light.

Never will I let that happen again!

I raise my eyes towards the sky, muttering a quick prayer of thanks to the one who sat there.

Passing the side of the house and completely avoiding the banquet, I entered my room and changed into a simple cold-shoulder lilac dress.

I had given up my original room up to Stephanie when she coquettishly asked and cried for it, throwing tantrums even, and I was content to stay in this one.

Now, I will ensure that even things that I did not want, Stephanie and her mother were not suitable to take them!

Going down to the garden, I take a look across the garden.

I scoff at Frank and Lailah who were in a conversation at a round table.

Standing not far away from them, Stephanie was in a conversation with her mother and apparently, the conversation was not going well by the way her hands were fisted by her side and she was pulling at her princess dress.

'Stephanie had changed her outfit as well.' I noticed.

I watch as Lailah pats Frank's hand and removes it quickly, a blush covering her cheeks.

How did I not notice this?

The little glances, the smallest touches. I had been so focused on what was in my presence that I never stopped to look at the big picture or even question their activities.

I was determined not to be hard on myself, after all a new chance at life was not just given to anybody.

Ignoring the smile Lailah sent my way, I picked up a flute glass containing champagne and walked towards where my Father was entertaining the directors of XS.

I just didn't expect to be stopped by somebody.

"Sister." Steph grabbed my shoulders roughly.

"Stephanie." I reply coldly looking at her.

"Stephanie? You always call me Steph!" she sulked coquettishly.

"You were named Stephanie Myers and that's what you are to me." I say, my eyes drifting to the gathering of directors that were looking towards me and Stephanie.

I had always known that a couple of them had always vehemently disliked Stephanie but out of their deep respect for my Mother, had wanted me to become the CEO of XS.

Just that I kept disappointing them regularly!

This will not happen again!

I threw a quick glance at Stephanie and noted the glint in her eye.

Soon enough, Stephanie opened her mouth and stretched her hand at the same time.

"You can't be mad at me! I just couldn't join you." Her loud voice attracted the attention of several people as several heads turned to our direction.

I groan inwardly.

I want to avoid her, yet Stephanie still comes barreling towards me.

Is my fate completely entwined with hers?

"What happened Grace?" From my place at the other side of the banquet, a girl asked, her calm demeanor making people listen to her.

I looked at the owner of the voice - Lailah and scoffed.

Vile serpent.

"How would I know?" I replied coldly and side stepped Steph who was raising a leg to trip her.

"Ah!" a scream rang out loud.

If most of the attention were previously on them before, now they most definitely had all eyes on them.

I snort inwardly.

Well, I would make the best use of the attention.

A laughter rang out in the banquet. It was a rich but soft melodious laugh. It sounded like it was tinkling the ears and the several people who stood with my Father felt a sense of nostalgia.

Why did this laugh remind them of someone?

"How did you slip? When will you stop being clumsy?" I chide Stephanie watching the fire in her eyes burn brighter.

"Come on, stand up." Mr. Koore's gruff voice sounded dismissing the bruise that had begun to form on his stepdaughter's head.

I chuckle inwardly. It seemed like my Father did not like either of his daughters very much.

"What was Steph talking about when she said she couldn't join you?" The airy voice spoke, its owner looking like an exquisite princess in her trumpet style gown.

I sigh and rubbed her glabella feeling a headache coming on.

What was this evil triangle between myself, Lailah and Stephanie?

In my past life, I married Frank who had an affair and birthed a child outside by Lailah, yet was completely head-over-heels for Stephanie.

Frank scowled, noticing my eyes on him.

He'd never liked me, but why was he looking at me with so much hatred?!

"I don't know. Ask her" I say, making my way over to XS directors.

I didn't see my stepmother, Caroline, motion to her daughter with my eyes.

"Grace wanted to go cliff diving, but I said no, that it was too scary. I may be impulsive but I'd never do anything to risk my life and cause my family unhappiness." Stephanie's voice rang out clear.

People began to instantly mutter. After all, what better gossip than the gossip of the Host family?

Lailah walked towards me, her pale pink trumpet gown trailing behind her shimmering with the light. Her Rickshaw family was not on par with the Koore but she was given an invitation being the best friend of Grace Koore, the legitimate daughter of Richard Koore and the heiress to XS, a multinational corporation that death with technology and fashion.

I knew how beneficial it was for Lailah to stick to me and she was doing it very much well, like a parasite, seeing as the Head of their Rickshaw family had complimented her seeing that her association with me had brought in several benefits to the family's business.

"Grace, how could you do so?" her long fingers pulled my forearm indicating our closeness.

A strong sense of anger overwhelmed me and flashes of me bleeding out my baby filled my mind.

Lailah, you must pay!